Energy-rich Kazakhstan announced today it was abandoning its currency band for a free-floating exchange rate, in a move that triggered a 23-percent fall in the value of the tenge against the US dollar.

The Kazakhstan Stock Exchange said the currency, the tenge, was trading at over 250 to the dollar Thursday afternoon after closing at 197.05 the day before.

Kazakhstan has been hit by a slide in the global price of oil.

The tenge is also under pressure from the devaluation of the Chinese renminbi last week, as were all emerging market currencies.

The decision came amid bleak forecasts for the price of crude oil, which Kazakhstan’s economy depends upon.

Exporters need to “help the government under the conditions of a new exchange rate and try to supply the country with foreign revenue”, Nazarbayev said in televised comments from the capital, Astana.

The Kazakh tenge’s plunge to over 257 to the dollar sparked jitters across the country as flustered shopkeepers and foreign exchange workers struggled to cope with the sudden change. Kazakhstan has also suffered from oil’s 22 percent retreat in the past two months, especially since its northern neighbor and trading partner Russia is allowing the ruble to track crude’s drop. On Wednesday another, smaller trading partner, Vietnam, devalued its dong, and Demetrios Efstathiou, head of CEEMEA Strategy at ICBC Standard Bank in London, said the manat of Caspian Sea neighbour Azerbaijan might be the next domino to drop.

“The National Bank and the government have decided to implement a new monetary policy from August 20, 2015 based on an inflation-targeting regime”, Massimov said.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev said Wednesday that the country would have to adapt to the economic changes brought about by low oil prices.

The tenge should stabilise in five to seven days, Mr Kelimbetov said, adding that the central bank is not targeting any particular exchange rate.

Like many EM currencies, the tenge has been under selling pressure, exacerbated by the still falling price of oil.

“However, now we observe a lack of funds”.